1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to system and methods for play list generation and more particularly to a method and system for facilitating selection of at least one media item from a plurality of media items.
2. The Prior Art
Digitalized multimedia players are becoming more popular in today's market just as compact disc (CD) players became popular in the 1980s. The dimensions of such multimedia players are becoming smaller and smaller so as to be a hand held palm size, and the contents of such players are becoming bigger and bigger so as to be capable of storage of 1,000 or 2,000 songs, for example. Unlike a personal CD player that plays only one CD at a time, multimedia players have the contents of hundreds or more CDs mixed together. This capability leads to at least two problems. Problem One: it is difficult for a user of a multimedia player to organize, arrange or prioritize all files, audios, videos or other media items into a selected sequence that the user wants the media item to play in. Problem Two: it is difficult for a user of a multimedia player to move or scroll (in an X-axis or Y-axis direction) the contents displayed on the relatively tiny screen of a mini multimedia player in the way he or she wants to organize the media items for playing.
As many multimedia players still follow the steps of traditional personal CD players, there have begun efforts to organized those collections of songs or other media items in multimedia players. Many multimedia players are alternatively assisted using a personal computer (PC), a notebook computer or some other external digital device to organize or arrange all songs/items downloaded from an external source or from internal storage.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,928,433 to Goodman et al. shows one of the more recent patented methods of automatic hierarchical categorization of music in a multimedia player. This method automatically files tracks according to a hierarchical structure of categories to organize tracks in a logical order. This method, however, is difficult for a user to use to organize songs in the way he or she likes because the method automatically files tracks in a hierarchical order based on attributes of the tracks. The method also is difficult because it requires a user to go through many steps. For example, the method requires the steps of displaying categories on the display, accepting signals from a user's input control to select a category, displaying one or more songs in the selected category on the display, accepting signals from a user's input control to select a displayed song, and entering selected songs into a playlist queue, wherein the device plays back songs in the playlist queue. Generally speaking, because the display screen is very small (1″×2″ or 1.5″×1.5″ usually) and the input controls very limited, a user will get confused with so many required steps to generate a playlist in the way he or she likes to play. Many times, people want to play music in a multimedia player not only in a hierarchical way based on attributes of the tracks, but also in a free, open, easy, comfortable, and mixable way.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,987,221 to Platt discloses another method of facilitating generation of playlist and organization and access to media items by identifying items similar to desirable characteristics and dissimilar to undesirable characteristics by analyzing user selectable seed items. In other words, this method facilitates playlist generation for a library or collection of media items by permitting a user to select a plurality of seed items. This method compares media items in the collection with the seed items and determines which media items are to be added to the playlist. This method has the problem that it is difficult for a user to set up or define a desirable seed item or undesirable seed item with respect to hundreds or thousands of songs or media items in a multimedia player with a large storage space. If the seed item is not defined correctly or accurately, the entire playlist based on that seed item will be totally or at least partially wrong, causing frustration for the user and wasting his or her time.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2004/0055446 to Robbin et al. discloses a method for providing user-supplied configuration data in a hierarchically-ordered graphical user interface. A first order interface provides a highest order of user-selectable items, each of which, when selected, results in an automatic transition to a lower order user interface associated with the selected item. The selection of each interface, however, lacks the capacity to organize multiple tasks to a user's various needs, especially for multiple selections of a large number of songs and items with mixed categories at any time or in a variety of situations. From another aspect, using many interfaces is too complicated to complete multiple selections of the many songs, artists and categories presented by multimedia players.
Therefore, for many reasons, there is a need for a method and a system that provides a new, easy, open, free, comfortable, and mixable music play arrangement that provides intelligence cursor/scroll sequence organizing functions.